Our soldiers in Iraq aren't heroes (But Andy Rooney is! (not))

BuffaloNews ^ | today | Rooney

[Peter J. Huss]

Our soldiers in Iraq aren't heroes



4/12/2004

By ANDY ROONEY

Most of the reporting from Iraq is about death and destruction. We don't learn much about what our soldiers in Iraq are thinking or doing. There's no Ernie Pyle to tell us, and, if there were, the military would make it difficult or impossible for him to let us know. It would be interesting to have a reporter ask a group of our soldiers in Iraq to answer five questions and see the results:

1. Do you think your country did the right thing sending you into Iraq?

2. Are you doing what America set out to do to make Iraq a democracy, or have we failed so badly that we should pack up and get out before more of you are killed?

3. Do the orders you get handed down from one headquarters to another, all far removed from the fighting, seem sensible, or do you think our highest command is out of touch with the reality of your situation?

4. If you could have a medal or a trip home, which would you take?

5. Are you encouraged by all the talk back home about how brave you are and how everyone supports you?

Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes gladly risking their lives for us sitting comfortably back here at home.

Our soldiers in Iraq are people, young men and women, and they behave like people - sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. It's disingenuous of the rest of us to encourage them to fight this war by idolizing them.

We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home.

One indication that not all soldiers in Iraq are happy warriors is the report recently released by the Army showing that 23 of them committed suicide there last year. This is a dismaying figure. If 22 young men and one woman killed themselves because they couldn't take it, think how many more are desperately unhappy but unwilling to die.

We must support our soldiers in Iraq because it's our fault they're risking their lives there. However, we should not bestow the mantle of heroism on all of them for simply being where we sent them. Most are victims, not heroes.

America's intentions are honorable. I believe that, and we must find a way of making the rest of the world believe it. We want to do the right thing. We care about the rest of the world. President Bush's intentions were honorable when he took us into Iraq. They were not well thought out but honorable.

Bush's determination to make the evidence fit the action he took, which it does not, has made things look worse. We pay lip service to the virtues of openness and honesty, but for some reason, we too often act as though there was a better way of handling a bad situation than by being absolutely open and honest.

[don-o]

Andy Rooney poll:
1. Harmless old coot.
2. Menace to society.
3. Freakish waste of carbon.
4. Living proof of everything that is wrong with the "Lame stream Media".
5. Oxygen thief.
6. Pious old fart
7. Off his Hormone Replacement Therapy
8. Waste of wrinkled old liver-spotted skin.
9. Poltroon.
10. Neither clever nor cute..

[PsyOp]

There's nothing like vindication.

[nutmeg]

OMG

[KillTime]

I rarely write letters to the editor in response to a discusting article I've read, but this time I had to. Folks pretty much said it all here already how truely vile rooney has become, but I feel tons better for writing to cbs requesting them to either demand rooney submit an appology article or retire him, or else cbs is coming off my remote. To hell with him.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[kellynla]

ping
I believe the Buffalo News is your local paper.
I hope you will call this moron Goldberg up at the paper and blister his hide to the wall as I did today.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[Temple Owl]

ping

[kellynla]

Ping!

[don-o]

Andy Rooney poll:

1. Harmless old coot.
2. Menace to society.
3. Freakish waste of carbon.
4. Living proof of everything that is wrong with the "Lame stream Media".
5. Oxygen thief.
6. Pious old fart
7. Off his Hormone Replacement Therapy
8. Waste of wrinkled old liver-spotted skin.
9. Poltroon.
10. Neither clever nor cute..
11. Senile old moron.

[JFC]

We need to bombard him with emails. He is UNAMERICAN!

Yes, Hollywood that is what I said. Put the pc where it belongs in the gutter. You who can not support our President and troops are UNAMERICAN!

[JFC]

We need to bombard him with emails. He is UNAMERICAN!

Yes, Hollywood that is what I said. Put the pc where it belongs in the gutter. You who can not support our President and troops are UNAMERICAN!

[nutmeg]

FoxFans: This thread is not Fox News-related, but I really had to make an exception for this one... Andy Looney went WAY over the line this time, IMHO.

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.

[nutmeg]

I can not believe what I just read..

I can't either. I'm sitting here stunned...

[cyncooper]

As a Viet Nam vet, I honestly feel that Rooney just spit on me and called me a "Baby Killer", as was done some 34 years ago in the San Francisco Airport.

I have posted before my lament about an in-your-face liberal in-law who makes a "statement" at every family gathering.

For a year I have bitten my tongue in the interest of family harmony, but last night during Easter dinner when he launched into "we" have killed 10,000 Iraqis, I'd had quite enough. I did not conciously link my disgust of recent weeks reviewing Kerry's anti-war statements in the 70's, but in thinking it over this morning (and not regretting speaking up) I think that is what finally pushed me--that here was smearing of our fine troops as "baby killers" just as was done back then. I was not about to sit there on Easter listening to how horrible the U.S. is. No.

He left the table when I firmly said that we have done no such thing, that the Iraqi people want us there and are happy we're there and we are doing a good thing.

[nutmeg]

You may want to ping your lists to this one...

[kellynla]

Thank you for writing.

I called this Goldberg up at the Buffalo News and read him the riot act!

These liberals have very short memories and to think that this paper is in the state of NY no less...

[samtheman]

I think there's a plan here. Another FReeper came up with it in another thread (I forget which one).

The leftist plan is this: Put out all kinds of attack garbage (9/11 Circus Commission, Kennedy Media Rages, Rooney-Tune Charges of Evil War... etc, etc, etc) and keep the conservatives (that's us) focused on these side issues, these sniping guerrilla actions while Public Enemy Number One (John Kerry) gets to stay low, stay out of the news, get rested, keep his head down.

That's the plan. It's cover fire for a weak RAT candidate who can't campaign on his own.

And we're all falling for it.

[nutmeg]

Good for you, cyncooper! That's not always easy to do, especially in family gatherings and on holidays.

My sister and her husband are pretty conservative (I can't get them to sign on as FReepers, though - they claim they're "too busy"), and voted for Bush, but even they were questioning me on Easter whether going into Iraq was a good idea, due to all the recent trouble in Fallujah, etc. Their favorable opinion of President Bush is slipping... *sigh*

[MEG33]

I've read two threads on this and did not comment until just awhile ago.I was too stunned at first and too angry later.

[FreedomCalls]

One indication that not all soldiers in Iraq are happy warriors is the report recently released by the Army showing that 23 of them committed suicide there last year. This is a dismaying figure. If 22 young men and one woman killed themselves because they couldn't take it, think how many more are desperately unhappy but unwilling to die.

Tragedy of College Student Suicide

NEW YORK — In a five-week period this fall, three New York University students leaped to their deaths in a deadly spree that shocked the urban campus.

"One indication that not all students in college are happy academics is the article by FoxNews showing that 3 of them committed suicide in just one university last month. This is a dismaying figure. If 3 young men in just five weeks killed themselves because they couldn't take the oppression of liberal indoctrination, think how many more are desperately unhappy but unwilling to die."

Two can play this game, Mr Rooney. Your serve.